The Marvelous Misadventures of Bakahood
by DeafeningSilence1317
Summary: A spin-off of 'The Kimiko Chronicles'. Non-Uchiha Massacre. These are the marvelous misadventures of Kimiko, The Akatsuki, and our beloved Uchiha boys! Rated T for colorful language and a little romance... NON-INCEST. HAS BEEN ADOPTED BY ECHO UCHIHA.
1. Chapter 1: XBOX 360 games and stalking

Hiyo! I hope you guys enjoy this because I put a lot of work into making it.

I OWN NOTHING.

* * *

Itachi and Sasuke were comfortably seated on the floor in front of their TV, playing video games on the XBOX 360, like any normal boys would do.

After an hour or two of playing, their mother, Mikoto, came walking in, carrying the cordless phone.

"Itachi, you have a phone call." She said, handing it to Itachi.

"Hello?" he answered, holding the phone between his shoulder and head, not even skipping a beat on his game.

"Itachi? Can we come over? We're REALLY bored and Orochimaru won't leave us alone, so we thought we could hide at your house." Leader-Sama said. Itachi could almost picture the anime sweatdrop on the back of Leader-Sama's head.

"Sure. Sasuke and I are just playing video games." Itachi said, a little distracted by the video game.

"Alright. See ya." Leader-Sama said, preparing to hang up.

"Bye." Itachi said, hanging up with the touch of a button.

"Who was it?" Sasuke asked, glancing up at Itachi.

"Leader-Sama. Orochimaru won't leave them alone so they're coming over." Itachi responded, placing the cordless phone on top of the coffee table.

"Okay." Sasuke said, shrugging and returning all his concentration to the game.

After 20 minutes or so, Itachi and Sasuke heard a thump on the living room window.

Itachi paused the game and went to see what had made the noise.

He peered out, but he couldn't see anything, so he sat back down and they continued to play.

A few seconds later, they both heard another thump, this time louder and more urgent.

Itachi paused the game again and went to the window. This time, he opened the window and peered out.

Right under the window, hiding in the bushes, was Leader-Sama and Konan, both panting heavily.

"Oh good." They both sighed, quickly climbing through the open window, relieved that someone had let them in.

"What the hell you guys?" Itachi asked, confusion and slight humor lining his tone.

"Orochimaru stalked us when we were coming over here, so we ran. I suggested we all split up and meet here, so we took a shortcut." Pein panted out, glancing at the window.

Just then, they heard another knock at the window.

Itachi went and opened it.

Deidara and Sasori climbed in.

They were both panting, almost collapsing once they were inside.

"Splitting up wasn't a good idea…" Sasori said, using Deidara for support.

5 minutes later, Zetsu decided to phase through the wall and freak everyone out.

"Hi guys. I saw Orochimaru closing in on everyone else. I was pretending to be a plant." Zetsu said, smiling evilly.

They heard another knock on the window.

Itachi opened it and Tobi climbed in.

"Tobi doesn't like Orochimaru anymore…" Tobi muttered, panting like everyone else.

Another knock came from the window right after Tobi finished his sentence, so Itachi quickly opened it.

Kakuzu climbed in, but his foot caught on the window sill and he face planted on the floor. Hidan tried to climb in, but he tripped over Kakuzu's foot and he landed on top of Kakuzu, knocking the wind out of both of them.

"We… barely… made it… Orochimaru… almost… got us…" Kakuzu and Hidan said in unison, Kakuzu making a weak attempt at trying to push Hidan off, both still panting quite heavily.

After a few minutes of Hidan and Kakuzu bickering about whose fault it was that they were on the floor, everyone heard a weak yet frantic knock at the window.

Itachi got up and opened it.

Kimiko crawled inside and lied on the floor, completely out of breath.

"WHY ME?" She yelled, looking up at everyone from the floor.

"What happened to you?" Konan asked, standing up.

"Orochimaru… grabbed me… couldn't get away… He… tortured me… He wanted… me… to… tell him… where… Itachi and Sasuke were…" she said, clutching her stomach and panting, desperately trying to get new air into her lungs.

"Did you tell him?" Itachi asked, a little panic in his tone.

"No…" she said, barely able to look up at Itachi.

"Good. Wait, then… How did you get away?" Itachi asked, confusion in his voice.

"I… kicked him… in his manhood… REALLY HARD…" She said, still clutching her stomach, trying to catch her breath.

"That's my little bitch…" Hidan said, ruffling her short black hair.

"Out of… all the people… to… leave behind… you choose the anemic 11-year old girl…" Kimiko said, looking up at everyone accusingly.

"You did good, kid. You did good." Itachi said, stroking her back and head comfortingly.

After a while, everyone was able to recover and they all played video games. Kimiko was a surprisingly good gamer, probably because she spends so much time playing them.

After several hours of gaming, everyone went home, as it was getting late and they didn't want to get caught in the storm that was going to happen that night.

Once everyone left, Itachi sat down on the couch, sighing.

"Wow, I'm surprised mom hasn't come to chew us out…" Itachi murmured, realizing what time it was.

12:06 am.

"We better get to bed before Dad comes back from his mission…" Sasuke said, also realizing the late time.

They both washed up and went to bed.

"G'night Sasuke." Itachi said, ruffling Sasuke's raven-black hair before turning and walking into his room.

"G'night, aniki." Sasuke muttered, disappearing into his own room.

They both went to sleep instantly, and just as the storm kicked in.

The only one who a hard time getting home was Orochimaru.

He had a hell of a time trying to explain to Kabuto why he wasn't walk correctly, and he had an even harder time convincing him to heal it.

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Leave it to Kimiko to kick someone in his manhood. XD REVIEWS? PLZ? We would appreciate it very much.


	2. Chapter 2: Attempted abduction

I'll admit, I may or may not have been slacking off...

I DON'T OWN NARUTO.

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The next morning, Itachi was awakened by his mother.

"Itachi, you and Sasuke are going to be late for your mission." She said softly.

Itachi groaned, but he got up anyway.

He got Sasuke up and they both got ready for the mission. After much preparing and packing, they left for the village gate, where they were supposed to be at least 20 minutes earlier.

"Where the hell were you guys?" Leader-Sama yelled angrily, throwing his hands up for emphasis to show how mad he was at them.

"My alarm clock didn't go off…" Itachi said, an anime sweatdrop forming on the back of his head.

"Mine didn't either…" Sasuke said, a sweatdrop identical to Itachi's forming on the back of his head.

Leader-Sama sighed, rubbing his temples. He can actually be a leader at times, and it's very scary when he does.

"Let's go now, please." Kimiko said, leaning to her left and crossing her arms impatiently.

"Why so eager?" Sasori asked, looking at her smoothly.

"I got up at 5:30 this morning when a gang fight erupted outside my window. I just want to get outta here as fast as I can…" She said, rubbing her right temple and closing her eyes.

"I told you to come over to our house when-"Itachi started.

"Skip it. Let's go now." She said, holding up a hand to keep him from talking before turning to begin walking.

They began walking.

Right in the midst of a conversation about pickles, everyone suddenly heard a noise.

"What was that?" Sasuke instantly asked, spinning around and looking in the direction of the sound.

"I don't know." Itachi replied.

Everyone looked at Kimiko.

"What?" she asked innocently.

After 10 seconds, she realized why.

"Oh no… No…" She said, shaking her head and backing away.

"I'll do it." Hidan said, sighing in exasperation, walking in the direction of the noise.

He disappeared behind a bush, not even making an attempt at walking cautiously.

After 30 seconds or so, he came running out from behind the bush, not watching where he was going. He was too terrified to care.

He tripped over a rock, which caused him to fall forwards, and guess who he landed on.

Our accident-prone Kimiko.

"Gah!" Hidan and Kimiko gasped in unison as Hidan toppled over on her tiny figure.

"Owies!" She coughed, face down in the dirt.

"OROCHIMARU!" Hidan yelled, trying to scramble off of Kimiko. He stood up but in the process stepped on Kimiko, and everyone was amazed that she didn't scream in pain, as they were almost certain that they heard a snapping noise.

Suddenly, Orochimaru burst from the bushes. He took one look at the gorgeous Uchiha boys and he got an evil glint in his eye.

He ran forwards, his energy aimed at the two Uchihas. In fact, he was so caught up in trying to get his hands on them that he didn't notice Kimiko, who was still on the ground. She waited for just the right moment, and she reached out and grabbed his ankle, causing him to trip.

"SAVE THE UCHIHAS!" She screamed, using every ounce of her strength to hold Orochimaru down.

They managed to get a good distance in between the beloved boys and Orochimaru, and this infuriated Orochimaru. He turned and kicked Kimiko in the face. Just so she wouldn't get in the way, he threw her against a tree, causing her to cough up a little blood. She fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious, thus enabling Orochimaru to start running for his prizes.

He was extremely quiet, which meant that he went unnoticed from the others, who were too busy trying to catch their breathes.

He was actually successful in grabbing one of them, his preferred favorite, Sasuke. Itachi barely dodged the attack, but Sasuke wasn't as lucky. Orochimaru attempted to run off with Sasuke, and he was nearly successful.

Just as he was about to jump into a nearby tree, Kimiko came out of nowhere and grabbed his ankle, causing him to fall to the ground, sadly landing on Sasuke.

Sasuke squealed uncharacteristically, but when you're being crushed by a 50 year old man, you can't help but let out some sort of noise.

"GIVE ME BACK MY SASUKE!" Kimiko screeched, digging her nails into Orochimaru's ankle. He howled in pain, and before he could recover, she kneed his manhood very hard. He screamed, and before he could even recover from THAT, she kicked him in the gut, causing his grip to loosen on Sasuke, who had managed to wriggle out from under Orochimaru. She pulled him free of Orochimaru's grasp and they both scurried to safety, but not before Orochimaru could deliver a staggering blow to Kimiko, and it mainly landed on her by blind luck.

They managed to scurry away before Orochimaru could land any more blows to either of them, and they sat on the ground in front of the group of stunned Akatsuki, desperately trying to catch their breaths.

Kabuto came and helped Orochimaru stand up.

Kimiko, still in 'protect Sasuke' mode, slid herself in front of him, blocking him protectively.

Orochimaru smiled evilly at Sasuke and Itachi.

"I'll get him soon. Just you wait." He said referring to Sasuke before he and Kabuto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

As soon as they were sure Orochimaru was gone, Itachi loosened his protective grip around his beloved baby brother and they both tackled Kimiko with hugs of gratitude.

"Thanks, kid." Itachi said, his arms wrapped around her neck.

"Yeah, thanks Kimiko." Sasuke said, his arms wrapped around her midsection.

"Don't worry about it." She said, secretly enjoying the gratification.

After a minute or two, they decided to hurry up and complete the mission.

What was the mission?

They had to deliver some top secret scrolls to the village hidden in the grass. They may not be allies, but these scrolls were a key in beginning an alliance.

It would take them at least a week to complete, but as a reward, they would get a very long vacation from duty.

Konan had been observing the battle and desperately wanted to check Kimiko, just to make sure she wasn't seriously injured.

"I'm fine, okay? Don't worry about me. I've been through stuff WAY worse than that…" she said, waving Konan off.

This statement only worried everyone more, but she insisted that she was okay, so they got up and they were on their way once more.

Over time, Itachi and Sasuke noticed that Kimiko was breathing abnormally. The kind of abnormal where her breathes would either speed up and be almost unnoticeable, or they would be slow and deep, both being somehow inaudible. She would occasionally cough, but every time everyone would look at her, she would look in a random direction, acting like she had no idea why they were looking at her.

Eventually, the coughs got more audible and harder to ignore.

It got to the point where she had to double over to cough, because the coughs sounded and actually were quite painful.

Itachi thought he even saw a little trickle of blood on the side of her mouth.

She wasn't going to last too much longer.

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I have a habit of getting my OCs all banged up... I don't see any problems with it... REVIEWS? PLZ?


	3. Chapter 3: The spider and the inn

Hi my readers! I'm SO FREAKIN' TIRED. And yet, I threw together this chapter for you. :) I am tryinhg immensly hard to post at least one chapter of either chapter every day, but that isn't always the case with me.

I OWN NOTHING.

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Sasuke offered her the chance to climb on his back since he felt partially responsible for her getting hurt.

They only walked for 20 minutes before reaching a tiny village, which meant they were halfway there.

They checked into the inn and found that they were to share ONE room.

ONE room and 11 people.

It had two queen sized beds, which was good. But other than that, it was pretty crammed.

Konan, being the overbearing motherly figure to Kimiko, had to check her out.

She finally got Kimiko to hold still, and she began healing her.

It didn't seem to help much, but it relieved some of the coughing.

After a while of stinging and burning sensations coming from the healing chakra, Kimiko decided she'd had enough and came up with the perfect excuse for getting up.

"Konan, I gotta go wee. Please let me go wee. I really gotta go wee." Kimiko said, squirming uncomfortably.

Konan took her healing chakra hands off of Kimiko's chest and back, allowing her to disappear into the bathroom.

After about 55 seconds, Kimiko came bursting out from the bathroom, only to trip on air and falling on the floor.

She laid there for a few seconds before sitting up.

"THERE IS A FREAKIN' BIG SPIDER IN THERE. And I found this NASTY bruise on my back." She said, lifting up her shirt in the back to reveal a rather dark, painful looking bruise.

"What were you doing in there?" Sasori asked.

"I 'tripped' on the sink and my shirt caught on something, which revealed this thing on my back, and while I was picking myself up, I saw this FREAKING HUGE spider under the sink. He was all, 'RAWR! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!' and I was all, 'OH MY JASHIN! IT'S SPIDEY THE SPIDER!' Then he was all, 'RAWR I'M GONNA GET YOU, GRRRR!' And I came out here and tripped on something which caused me to face plant on the floor, and now I'm explaining to you guys what happened so you won't think I was being hyper or anything, which I'm not doing." She said, out of breath.

Everyone stared at her oddly for a moment or two before snapping back to the subject at hand.

"What kind of spider was it?" Itachi asked.

"A daddy longlegs spider." She replied, looking up at him.

Itachi nodded and stood up before walking into the bathroom.

"DON'T LET IT BITE YOU!" Kimiko yelled after him.

"Their fangs are too short to bite humans." Kisame said, rolling his eyes.

"Nuh-uh. That's just a myth. There are several types of daddy longlegs, and I can tell you that some of them DO HAVE the capability of biting people. Plus, they actually have poison, which makes them SO much scarier." Kimiko explained, making a weak attempt at sitting up.

After a few seconds, Itachi came out of the bathroom, holding the spider by one of his legs.

Kimiko grew wide eyed and quickly hid behind her backpack, where she watched the spider wiggle and twist around, trying to break free of Itachi's grip.

After an hour or so of passing it around, everyone passed it over to Kimiko and Sasuke, who were 'torturers in training' as Itachi called it.

The spider escaped and made a mad dash for the safety of the bathroom, but Kimiko stupidly followed it.

After hearing a thump, everyone watched as she scrambled out of the bathroom, panting.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked.

"I think I may or may have not killed it. I smashed it with a random object and it was all flat and guts were leaking out of the side when I got the random object off." She said, pulling out the random object with spider guts stuck to it.

"Wow…" Sasuke said sarcastically.

"It was a COMPLETE accident, I swear! I tripped on the door frame and I grabbed this thing. It wanted to give the spider a hug, I guess…" She said, putting down the object as if it were a bomb.

"Pretty big hug, then, un…" Deidara murmured, rolling his eyes.

"How are we gonna sleep?" Sasuke asked.

Everyone looked at each other for a fraction of a second before claiming spots.

Sasuke and Itachi claimed one bed, and Konan and Leader-Sama got the other.

Zetsu decided to sleep in his giant flower pot, which he would put in the closet.

Kisame wanted to sleep in the bath tub, which gave Kimiko the idea to start calling him 'Kisame XY' (1).

Kakuzu decided to sleep on the floor under the window for some odd reason.

Kimiko got to sleep in between the wall and the Uchiha's bed, where she would most likely crawl up into some time during the night.

Hidan got the spot in between the two beds.

Deidara and Sasori decided to sleep in between the wall and Konan and Pein's bed.

Tobi decided to sleep directly under the TV.

That night, the ghost of the spider came and cussed everyone out in spider speak before leaving to where ever it is when bugs die.

At 5:00 am, Pein got up to use the bathroom, as he had a scary dream about some deformed spider cussing him out.

It was like walking through a mine field of bodies.

He saw that Kimiko was now lying in at the foot of the Uchiha brothers' bed, wrapped up in her sweater.

Deidara and Sasori had somehow moved to where Kimiko was originally lying.

Other than that, Pein didn't notice anything else different.

When he got into the bathroom, he realized that Kisame was lying in the bath tub, so he went pee in the dark and he had to lean down very close to the toilet.

After about an hour, the alarm went off.

Kimiko jumped and fell off the bed, landing on Deidara and Sasori, which woke them up.

Kisame jumped and stood up, which made a loud thud, causing Hidan and Tobi to snap awake.

Zetsu(s?) jumped in the closet, causing a very loud thump, which woke up Konan, causing her to accidently roll of the bed, her fall cushioned by Kakuzu.

Sasuke jumped and accidently fell off the bed, landing on Kimiko, Deidara, and Sasori.

Itachi banged his head on the night stand before falling off and landing on Hidan.

After much swearing and groans of agony, pain, and resentment, everyone got up.

"Who the hell landed on top of me?" Kimiko asked, rubbing her sore back, which must've been throbbing horribly at the moment.

"I did, I think." Sasuke said, rubbing his eyes.

"Can't we just go back to sleep? I am just too tired to care about anything." Kimiko asked, flopping down on the nearest bed.

"The sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can head back." Pein said, scratching the back of his neck lazily.

After an hour or so of getting things together, they left the inn and barely managed to make it to the grass village by the afternoon.

Kimiko rode on everyone's backs almost the entire way because she wouldn't stop coughing.

Konan tried to heal her, but Pein said carrying her would be faster.

Everyone sighed in relief once they arrived at the village.

"We made it!" Pein said, smiling exhaustedly.

"Can we PLEASE hurry this up? I'm SO FREAKIN' TIRED…" Kimiko sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"Are you kidding me? You got free rides the whole way over here!" Sasuke asked.

"I know, but I'm weak from blood loss. Don't forget, I FREAKING SAVED YOUR LIFE, DUDE. Now let me die in peace…" She said, resting her head of Deidara's right shoulder. She just happened to be riding him, since no one else had the energy to carry her anymore.

"Can't you at least WALK, hm?" Deidara asked, setting her down.

"Fine… But if I collapse suddenly, blame the blood loss factor." She said, adjusting her backpack.

Everyone walked and walked until they found the royal house containing the leader of the village and his family.

It was quite large and scary-looking.

The only one brave enough to go in was Pein.

* * *

REVIEWS? PWEASE? We will be very happy if you do. JUST DO IT O_O


	4. Chapter 4: The wolf and the wierd battle

It took me a week, but I finally pulled myself together enough to finish this chappie...

I OWN NOTHING.

* * *

Pein promptly dropped the scrolls off inside and rushed out, as he was getting odd stares from the occupants of the house.

"Can we go now? This place is giving me the creeps…" Konan said, staring warily at their current surroundings.

"Hey, I'm choking on my own blood and I'm not complaining." Kimiko said from her spot on the ground, where she was recently spewing blood onto the ground.

After a little resting, they got up and tree skimmed for about half an hour before Kimiko gave out, slamming into a tree and falling to the ground, nearly unconscious.

"GAAAAAAH! Stupid tree…" Kimiko muttered, closing her eyes and wincing in pain.

"OHMYGOSH! Kimiko, are you okay?" Konan asked, jumping down from her current position in the trees and landing next to her, looking her over.

"Do I have to answer?" Kimiko choked out, trying to stay conscious.

After some fumbling around, Konan let Kimiko crawl on her back, and Kimiko finally lost control and fell unconscious.

"We better hurry up and get back to Konoha before she keels over." Hidan muttered, taking Kimiko's limp body off of Konan's back and holding her bridal style.

A low growl suddenly pierced the atmosphere, making everyone jump, except for our unconscious Kimiko, who was of course unconscious.

"What was that?" Konan gasped, a kunai falling out of her sleeve and sliding into her hand.

Another growl was sent throughout the tense atmosphere, which made everyone assume a defense position, drawing either a shuriken or kunai.

Suddenly, an enormous black wolf, about the size of Sasuke, jumped out of a clearing directly below them, landing on the branch directly in front of them.

Before anyone could react, it lunged forward, and in one swift movement, stole the unconscious 11 year-old child from Hidan.

It was holding her by the back of her shirt in his white, sharp teeth.

Just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared, Kimiko in his grip.

After a stunned silence, everyone snapped out of it and began breathing again.

"WHAT… THE… HELL?" Hidan exclaimed, staring at the spot Kimiko once was in.

"That's the 3rd time this month…" Pein murmured, staring off in the direction the wolf had run off.

"Should we go get her?" Sasuke asked, doing the same action as Pein.

"She's saved herself before. Who knows, she might come back." Itachi said, placing a hand on Sasuke's head and looking in the same direction.

"But she's unconscious. She can't save herself when she's not even among the aware and awake." Kisame said, receiving sweatdrop-inducing stares.

"He's got a point, you know…" Kakuzu said, also receiving the stares.

"Well, we might as well go TRY to save her, since she might not to be able to do it herself…" Zetsu stated.

Somewhere in another part of the forest…

Kimiko felt like she was being roughly dangled and dragged instead of being carried, and frankly, she didn't like it one bit.

She opening her shiny green-brown eyes just enough to see what was going on.

She was greeted by the running forest floor under her. It was surprisingly familiar to her, since she was often the one to be captured on most of her missions.

She was too terrified to look and see who or what was carrying her, so she scanned the area, trying to figure out where she was.

After about 20 minutes, whatever happened to be carrying her gently set her down on a branch.

"I see you're awake, child." Said a rather large and scary looking tiger.

'WAIT, WHAT?' Kimiko thought, genuinely confused.

Kimiko stared at him, silently begging for him not to eat her.

"Now I won't feel guilty about killing you!" It yelled, pouncing at her.

She stood and started scrambling through the trees in some random direction, using her surprising speed to shake the wolf.

It followed closely behind for a bit, but since it was a hot day and it had a black coat, it slowed, ad it put some good distance between Kimiko and himself.

Soon, Kimiko started coughing and choking on her own blood once again, slowing her down.

"Damnit…" Kimiko murmured before coughing again.

She suddenly got an idea.

She dropped down on the ground and hid in a bush.

Just as the wolf stopped over the bush, she used a chakra super jump and burst through the limb under him, trying to land a blow in one area in particular.

The dog version of 'manhood'.

He yelped in agony, leaving him vulnerable to attack.

She slashed his right eye, causing him to let out a loud, high pitched noise only dogs can use.

She turned and prepared to run, but, in desperation and blind rage, the wolf swung his enormous paw and knocked her clear off the limb.

The blow was most likely a chakra-fused attack, as she was sent flying, breaking down at least 15 trees.

She was too stunned to do anything accept lay there and play dead.

The wolf wasn't able to find her in the debrey, so he yelled in frustration before disappearing, muttering something about 'losing a good opponent and meal', making Kimiko shiver.

After she was 100% sure he was gone, she pushed off the pile of dibries she was hiding under and took a big sigh of relief.

"THAT… WAS… EPIC…" She murmured, smiling to herself. That was the most daring escape this month!

After a little while, she began thinking of how she was going to get home.

'If I get up, I'll probably pass out since I'm pretty banged up, but if I don't get up, I won't see anyone coming because they'll probably want to be quiet about finding me if they don't know the wolf's gone. But if I stay here too long, something else could come find me, and I'm defenseless…" she thought, thinking surprisingly rationally (try saying that 5 times fast…).

'I might as well stop thinking, since something will probably happen that seems completely irrelevant to the plot but will end up saving me, or the stupid thoughts that are running through my head are just distractions for the readers while something happens that could save me.' Kimiko thought, rolling her eyes.

* * *

Yeah, this chappie isn't my best work, as you can clearl see. I feel like she's out of character, even for HER, but I was thinking about my other Naruto OC while I was writing about half of this, so HER personality kinda seeped in there. I'd rather not talk about said OC because I'm afraid society will reject her for reasons I'm too lazy to complain about, but if you get curious, yuou can PM me and I could run her by you if I'm in the mood.

Anyways, moping aside, REVIEW?


	5. Chapter 5: Here's round 2

CHELLO. I found out that this chappie was just sitting around (completed) on my compter, so I decided to put it on since I was bored.

* * *

Just as Kimiko finished her train of thought, she heard a twig snap not 20 yards away.

She closed her eyes and looked for a chakra signature.

Boom

She immediately recognized the nearest one as Sasuke's.

She used her own chakra signature and made it glow fiercely for a few moments, just long enough for Sasuke to sense it.

Sasuke shot a glance at the direction he felt the signal come from.

He saw the debris scattered about 20 yards away.

"Don't know how I missed that…" Sasuke murmured to himself, a big sweat drop forming on the back of his head.

He shook it off and walked until he didn't need to concentrate to feel a faint trace of chakra he could only describe as Kimiko's.

Eventually, he found her lying around in a pile of debris.

"Took you long enough!" Kimiko said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry…" Sasuke muttered, beginning to pick her up off the ground.

Suddenly, a low growl rang through the dilapidated forest, causing Sasuke to accidently drop Kimiko in surprise.

She merely squealed and shot a quick glare at him.

The same wolf, detecting Kimiko and Sasuke's chakra signatures, came back, looking for round 2.

Kimiko squeaked and dragged herself behind Sasuke to hide behind him.

"Oh, it's an Uchiha. This should be interesting…" The wolf muttered once the two were in view, charging at them.

Before anything could register in either of the children's' heads, they were sent flying backwards, causing at least 20 different trees to bend and break under the force.

They ended up at least half a mile from the original location.

The wolf wasn't satisfied. He ran and charged again, plowing them over into a few dozen other trees.

Kimiko, being already as weak as she was, could make no attempts to shield her body from severe damage caused by flying through trees at such high speeds, so she was immobilized and on the verge of passing out.

The wolf, seeing Kimiko CLEARLY as the weaker one, ran towards her, attempting to kill her for 'fixing' him.

Sasuke, realizing that Kimiko was defenseless against such a strong attack, reacted the way he was taught.

His hands swiftly made the correct hand signs and he shouted,

"Chidori!"

The wolf was blasted with it head on.

He made an unearthly screeching noise and ran into the woods, a big gaping wound on his side, one to match the one he gave Kimiko.

Sasuke groaned in pain and collapsed next to a nearly dead Kimiko, both pained heaps on the ground.

"N-Not so e-easy, now is it?" Kimiko asked weakly, a smile crossing her expression.

Sasuke nodded in agreement before attempting to stand.

The attempt failed miserably, and he fell to the ground, moaning in pain.

"Crap… Now who's gonna save US?" Kimiko muttered, staring up at the sky in exasperation.

"If we both signal the others with our remaining chakra at the same time, maybe they'll be able to detect us." Sasuke suggested weakly before coughing up a few droplets of blood.

"Ow… I take it back; you are NOT a crybaby…" He said, wiping the blood away from his mouth using his hand.

"Can we just signal them already? I'm getting a nosebleed…" Kimiko muttered, wiping her nose with her good arm.

They both signaled with all the chakra they could muster, and this managed to reach all the Akatsuki members, who were only a quarter of a mile away.

Itachi, who recognized the distressed chakra as Kimiko's and Sasuke's, went sprinting.

It took everyone else a few seconds to realize who it was coming from, and they went running equally fast.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open upon sensing everyone's approaching presences, and he looked over at Kimiko.

She had passed out by that point.

Sasuke let out a feeble little laugh.

'Girls…' he thought, rolling his eyes.

Itachi arrived first, and upon seeing an unconscious Kimiko and nearly unconscious Sasuke, nearly snapped.

He ran up to Sasuke and gave him a protective hug only an older brother can give before noticing the nasty wounds that were splashed across Sasuke's pale skin.

"Aniki?" Sasuke asked, a little dazed from the increasing blood loss.

"Sasuke? What happened?" Itachi asked, locking eyes with the younger Uchiha.

"The big wolf attacked us. I used chidori. Kimiko passed out after we signaled you guys." Sasuke explained, coughing a little.

Itachi felt that thing inside him snap when his beloved younger brother's blood came into contact with his skin.

Just then, the other Akatsuki members arrived.

"I've heard of a battle field, but this is going along the lines of a war field at this point…" Konan murmured to herself, looking around at the damage.

Hidan, who wasn't watching where he was going, tripped on something and fell over.

"WHAT THE FU-"He started angrily. He stopped when he saw exactly what caused him to trip.

He stared at Kimiko for a second before poking her with a stick.

"I think she's dead…" He muttered, continually poking her.

"Try hitting her with it, un." Deidara said, crouching down next to Hidan.

Hidan nodded and whacker her with it, landing a blow right on her shoulder.

Kimiko winced slightly and her breath caught in her throat for a second, but she otherwise stayed unconscious.

"She's alive, at least…" Hidan muttered, picking her limp body up off the ground and holding her bridal style. She was dripping with blood that was most likely hers. Hidan noticed this and held her out at arm's length to inspect were the blood could possibly be coming from.

He quickly discovered two large bleeding wounds, one her back and the other on her side, which made him wince at the sight.

"Imma kill whoever did this to my little girl…" Hidan muttered, his eyes glowing with hate.

Itachi didn't even need to voice his hate, as everyone could feel the hate radiating off of him.

"Look, I want to kill whoever did this as much as you do, but if we don't get these two some help soon…" Pein trailed off, trying to avoid eye contact with Itachi and Hidan.

Itachi helped Sasuke to climb on his back and Hidan held Kimiko bridal style since she was 'temporarily not among the living', as she would've voiced it.

They jetted off and were soon skimming the trees at a considerably fast rate.

Sasuke, who managed to stay conscious despite the amount of blood he lost, would often look back at Kimiko, just to make sure Hidan was holding her right and to make sure she wasn't dead. He wanted it so badly to be the other way around, but he could only hope for the best now…

* * *

Uh-huh... I worked on this a lot, so it definantly be one of my better works. REVIEWS ARE WELCOME.


	6. Chapter 6: Kimiko's tears

Um, this was sitting around too...

... DO I GOTTA SAY IT AGAIN?

* * *

Several miles down the trail, Kimiko began coughing up small amounts of blood, catching everyone off guard.

Hidan halted surprisingly fast and set her down. She attempted to stand up, but Hidan pushed her back down.

"Don't move around too much or your wounds are gonna reopen." He said, surprising everyone by his own intelligence of healing, despite being the idiot he is. I mean, you just don't expect him to know a lot about medical things since he can live forever, but here he was, scolding Kimiko, a medic ninja trainee.

Kimiko plainly looked up at him before obediently stopping her movements.

Hidan crouched down and she very slowly, very carefully, climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist so she wouldn't fall.

With that, they were off again, not wanting to stay in one spot for too long.

Kimiko lightened the tense mood by doing one simple act.

Giggling.

No one could figure out why such an injured child could be giggling so profusely, so they simply asked her why.

"What's up with you?" Hidan asked, glancing back at her.

"I-I just… s-saw a squirrel… and… I p-pictured it… d-dancing…" She said, her giggles turning into laughs. Everyone shook their heads and smiled at her silliness.

Leave it to Kimiko to laugh when her life is hanging in the balance.

Eventually, they decided to stop for the night. They had been slowed down by the incident with the wolf, so they had no choice but to stop in the middle of nowhere.

Kimiko passed out again by that time, and Sasuke had been out ever since Kimiko woke up, so Konan's maternal instincts kicked in and she started healing them.

"Konan… Stop it… That stings…" Kimiko groaned, her breath afterwards turning into a slight cough before going limp in Konan's grip.

"Kimiko? How long have you been up?" Konan asked, taken off guard.

"Since you started healing me…" Kimiko said, her voice weak and hoarse.

"Well, if you want to get better, you're gonna have to let me heal you." Konan said, her hands glowing with healing chakra. She tried healing the nasty gashes on her back and side, but Kimiko gently pushed Konan's hands away.

"Quit tryin' to deal with me and help Sasuke! At least he won't put up a fight…" She said, coughing up a little more blood towards the end. Everyone was taken aback by her stubbornness, as she was normally so obedient, and was always too lazy to put up much of a fight. You would think now would be no exception, but surprisingly, she was more concerned about SASUKE than HERSELF.

"Such a selfless little thing…" Sasori muttered, watching as Konan hesitantly turned to Sasuke and began healing him.

"One of her many flaws…" Kisame said, shaking his head and smiling.

After a little while, Konan turned back to Kimiko and tried healing her again.

"I'm injured, not dead, Konan…. That still stings..." Kimiko murmured, coughing up more crimson liquid before going limp once again.

"This child is impossible…" Konan said, placing her hands on her hips and sighing in frustration.

"Enjoy it while you can. She's almost never impossible…" Itachi said, nudging Konan before taking a look at Sasuke to make sure he didn't have any serious injuries that they may have missed.

Konan quickly attacked Kimiko with her healing hands and this time Kimiko only groaned, but was too weak to put up any sort of fight.

After Konan was all out of healing chakra, and everyone else was intensely tired, they all bedded down and were out instantly. The only one who wasn't asleep was Itachi, who was concerned about Sasuke.

Kimiko moaned before rolling over and looking at him, her eyes glassy from being closed so long.

"Go to sleep, Itachi." Kimiko moaned, muffling a cough with her hand.

"I'm not tired. You should be the one getting some sleep." Itachi said, quickly getting over the surprise of her suddenly speaking to him.

"I think it's really sweet that you want to watch out for Sasuke, but you're gonna need your strength if you want to take care of him tomorrow." Kimiko said, catching a glimpse of the fading fire before her eyes promptly shut again, her eyes not adjusted to even the smallest glimmer of light.

"I can't stop worrying about him, though. Nor can I stop worrying about you." Itachi said, his eyes locked on her closed ones.

"Look, I saved him from Orochimaru; he saved me from the wolf. I made Konan tend to him more for a reason. If he lives, I'll feel like I repaid him." She explained, her voice shaky with what Itachi assumed were unshed tears.

"Why do you care about him so much?" Itachi asked, glancing down at Sasuke just to make sure he was still breathing.

"I just do, okay? I like to think of him… and you… as the older brothers I never had." She said, turning her head away from him.

"You have… had… an older brother already." Itachi pointed out.

"I know, but he's not like you two. I couldn't help but think that if I could lose him, I can lose you guys, and that reality became… just too real when he… And… I didn't wanna go through that again with you guys..." She said, turning her head and looking at him. Itachi regretted his words when he saw that she was now crying.

"I had no idea you felt that way about us…" Itachi said, taken aback when her words finally hit him.

"Just forget it..." She said, turning away and continuing to cry silently, thus ending the conversation.

Itachi lay down next to Sasuke and thought her words over before drifting off.

* * *

As you can see, I POURED MY HEART OUT on this one, and it's one of the more serious chapters, as you can clearly tell. I know I'm not the BEST writer out there, but I'd love it if you reviewed. I get a warm, tingly feeling inside when I get reviews because then I know you guys are actually READING my so called 'works', so even if it's a simple one, just click on that pretty review button and MAKE MY DAY.


	7. Chapter 7: Terrors and trials of Kimiko

Yo. I worked very hard on this, starting about midway through the chapter, so please enjoy it.

WARNING: CHILD ABUSE IN HERE.

... I don't own NARUTO.

* * *

The next morning, at around 5:30, everyone got up and within 3 minutes of packing, they went on their way.

Sasuke had woken up by that time, but he was still extremely weak and hurt, so Itachi let him crawl onto his back, 'Kimiko style', as they now referred to it as.

Kimiko was unconscious again by this time, and they laughed sadly at this as a way of telling which one would be awake and which one would be passed out.

They arrived at the midway checkpoint village in just 45 minutes, and they bought some breakfast for the road.

Sasuke gingerly snapped up his share, but no one could get Kimiko to take anything, or wake up fully for that matter.

The minute Sasuke started falling unconscious from coughing up too much blood, everyone expected Kimiko to wake up.

She didn't.

She simply hung limply in Hidan's arms, and the movement that could be seen was her chest going up and down, and even that was uneven and labored.

Konan had Hidan put her down and tried to heal her once again, just so her breathing would return to normal.

"Konan… Quit it please…" Kimiko groaned, pushing Konan's hands away weakly before holding back a cough.

Konan rolled her eyes in frustration, but she was assisted by Deidara, who had a rather evil idea.

"Hey Kimiko, hm? If you let Konan help you, I'll buy you a pack of glitter crayons." He said, smirking when her green-brown eyes snapped open and looked at him.

"R-Really?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper, yet so much hope lining her tone.

Deidara nodded, and Konan was able to heal her without another peep.

She managed to get Kimiko's more serious wounds to close up some so they weren't bleeding as much, but she ran out of chakra before she could do much else.

Kimiko passed out once again, and not another peep was heard from Sasuke or her until they got back to the leaf village, in which case they were woken up.

After insisting she was alright, Hidan hesitantly put her down and they went and filled out the necessary paper work before going their separate ways to go home.

Tsunade took Sasuke and said that he should be just fine with a little rest and healing time, so she sent him home with Itachi. Kimiko disappeared before Tsunade could get a good look at her. Itachi decided to do a little snooping and followed her home, Sasuke

As soon as Kimiko arrived at her own house, she was met by her rather pissed off mother.

"YOU'RE LATE! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?" Her mother yelled, whacking the back of Kimiko's head. Kimiko instinctively pulled away and shrank back in a corner of the room.

"I-I'm sorry… There were a couple of unavoidable d-detours we had to t-take and… they took up a l-lot of time…" Kimiko explained, her eyes directed towards the floor in shame.

"I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT! And what's with all the injuries? You're a chuunin and medic ninja trainee! You shouldn't be this banged up for such a simple mission! You're bringing shame to everyone around you!" Her mother yelled, grabbing one of Kimiko's wrists and yanking her harshly closer before pulling the child off the ground, leaving her suspended above the ground by a few inches.

"As soon as your father comes back, you'll get your FULL punishment." Her mother said through gritted teeth, her face only inches away from Kimiko's terrified face.

Kimiko nodded obediently and her mother dropped her, making no attempts to catch the child as she plummeted to the hard floor. Kimiko hung her head in shame and rubbed her eyes as if to wipe away tears before they escaped the veil of her black emo bangs.

"AND WHY ARE YOU CRYING?" Her mother yelled, grabbing Kimiko's chin and forcing her to look up at her.

"STOP IT! CHILDREN YOUR AGE SHOULDN'T BE CRYING!" Her mother said, slapping Kimiko across the face before dropping her chin and storming out of the room.

Kimiko kept her head down for a matter of minutes before getting up and walking to her room to await punishment.

Itachi hopped over to the window overlooking her room. He peered inside.

Kimiko was slumped over a sketch book, a pencil in her hand, her emo-style bangs hiding her eyes

Itachi knew by the way she was so still that she wasn't crying. She was thinking. All of a sudden, her hand began swiftly gliding across the page, her eyes never coming out from under their dark veil.

When she was done creating the outline, she smirked that smirk only an artist can, before checking it over for any flaws.

She began adding color with her prized colored pencils, and after becoming completely absorbed in her drawing, the front door slamming shut made her snap out of this state of relief and perpetual bliss that only drawing could bring her into.

"KIMIKO! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Her angry father yelled, causing her to take a deep, shaky breath before standing up and walking into the next room, her fists clenched tightly at her sides.

Itachi was now able to take a better look at the drawing by standing up.

He could now see what the drawing was.

An anemone flower, splattered with blood, the petals scarred and torn. The picture saddened him in a way he wasn't quite able to comprehend. He shook it off and decided to go back to his original spot where the everything started, and where Kimiko had been commanded to go.

"You are a CHUUNIN and medical ninja trainee. To be hurt on such a simple mission is unacceptable in this house. The next time you feel the urge to save someone you care about, DON'T DO IT!" Her father yelled, grabbing both her shoulders so tightly that all the bones near the areas were ready to snap.

"Do you actually think that other people could love you as much as you love them? No one could even CONSIDER loving a child like you! It's only a waste of your ability to be saving others who don't even care about you!" Her father exclaimed, his hands wrapping around her neck and picking her off the ground.

* * *

Yup... If you think THIS was emoistic (my new made up word), then you should see the NEXT one... I'm in a dark emotional place right now, so I used it to my advantage.

Reviews?


	8. Chapter 8:The girl living a grim reality

Yeah... I worked SOOOO hard on this one, as my emoness was at it's peak, so please enjoy.

WARNING: MORE CHILD ABUSE! WATCH OUT!

... I do not own...

* * *

Kimiko could only stare at her father, surprised that he would go as far as lifting her off the ground by her THROAT.

He dropped her and kicked her balled up heap on the floor a few times, before reaching down and yanking her up into a standing position.

"NO ONE REALLY CARES ABOUT YOU. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD." Her father said through gritted teeth, locking eyes with her.

Kimiko nodded, looking down.

After several more minutes of physical, emotional, mental, and psychological abuse Itachi himself would never think of using, Kimiko was finally sent to her room. Thrown, more like it.

She landed in a bloody, messy, depressed heap on the ground in front of her bedroom door. She opened it and crawled inside before pulling herself onto the bed and staring up at the ceiling. Itachi, burning with hate and, he, a hardened shinobi killer, forever scarred by the things just screamed at an 11 year old child, stared at Kimiko, wondering how she could possibly have not broken down in tears by that point.

She stared up at the ceiling, and with the very last of her chakra, healed herself as best she could. She managed to close up most of the wounds, but some still struggled to close. She reached in between her bed and the wall before pulling out a bottle of pills. She dumped 2 out into her hand and ate them.

"I'm an idiot." She muttered, smiling the saddest smile Itachi had ever seen.

'That's it. I can't take it anymore.' Itachi thought, opening the window and hopping inside.

"Itachi?" Kimiko asked hoarsely yet surprised, coughing afterwards.

"I saw what happened. You're coming with me. Now." Itachi said, locking eyes with her.

"I take it you were eavesdropping?" Kimiko asked sitting up.

Itachi blushed suddenly, but he nodded.

"I have stuff packed already, if you're wondering." Kimiko said, standing up and stumbling around, collecting a few last minute items before slinging it over her back and following him out the window, where Sasuke was waiting.

Itachi, seeing that Kimiko wouldn't be able to make it to their destination while walking, picked her up bridal style and they were off.

Kimiko was taken aback by the fact that these two would go through such torture just to see if she was alright. But, her father's words still rang in her head. 'No one else cares.'

Before long, they arrived at the hospital, the last place Kimiko expected to be taken.

"What are we doing here, exactly?" Kimiko asked, her emotions seemingly stunned from all the abuse just recently directed towards her.

"Tsunade told me to take you here if I managed to track you down." Itachi explained, carrying her inside and handing her over to Tsunade and Shizune, who were waiting for them.

"Wow… A whole `entourage just for me…" Kimiko said to herself, being carried off by Shizune.

After an hour or so went by, Shizune came out carrying a chart.

"Kimiko is seriously injured, and Lady Tsunade would like to keep her for observation." Shizune explained, brushing some of her bangs from her eyes.

"How bad is it, if I may ask?" Itachi asked.

"Are you sure you're ready for all this? She has 3 broken ribs, a sprained wrist, several serious cuts and scrapes, severe blood loss, malnutrition, dehydration, and it's possible she got some rather dangerous infections from the cuts. She was so weak that she passed out while we were examining her. Was there something you left out of the mission report?" Shizune stated, looking at Itachi for an answer to her question.

"No. Her… Parents did some of the damage…" Itachi explained, looking away from Shizune's questioning look.

"Oh… alright. You can go home now. We'll take good care of her." Shizune said, giving him and Sasuke a reassuring smile.

The two were hesitant to leave, but they finally went home. Mikoto quickly tended to Sasuke and questioned Itachi on how Sasuke could be that banged up on such a simple mission.

Itachi explained everything (trying not to use much detail in the events involving Orochimaru), and Mikoto nearly cried when Itachi finished the story at just before they arrived home.

"She's such a sweet little girl… Who could ever harm such a beautiful little girl?" Mikoto asked, wiping a tear away from her eye.

"Apparently, her own PARENTS…" Sasuke said, his tone lined with hatred, crossing his arms.

"We HAVE to let her stay with us… she doesn't deserve such a horrible life… I'll talk to your father about it. But for now, I want you two to go to bed. My two boys need their rest. And Sasuke should've been in bed by now!" Mikoto said, turning to Sasuke with her hands on her hips.

"S-sorry… Good night." Sasuke said, turning and scurrying to his bedroom.

"I guess I better get to bed too… Good night, mom." Itachi said, turning and heading for his bedroom.

'Why didn't she say anything? She could've been over this hell a while ago… Kisame was right. She puts herself before others… Sometimes I wonder if it's a good thing…' Itachi thought, his mind restlessly searching through old memories; anything to even consider as a sign of the kind of torment she suffered through every day. What he couldn't understand was the fact that she could lighten even the darkest mood with just that beautiful smile of hers, and how she could bring such joy to everyone around her while her own life was nothing but a miserable struggle just to make it through the day without even the slightest consideration of ending it all, to just give up and die. He was surprised she hadn't stopped fighting, and he knew that she would've most likely given up if he hadn't come and saved her from it all. But he hoped that she wouldn't realize that. He didn't want to be repaid for his actions; he simply wanted her to be safe from such a horrible existence.

The last thought that went through his head before drifting off was only a simple plea.

'Please say 'yes', father.'

* * *

How was that? I KNOW deep down that was a good chapter, but I need to know if YOU GUYS did. And for all of you who are still loyal and awesome enough to still be reading this, I LOVE YOU GUYS.

Review. That's all it takes to make my day.


	9. Chapter 9:Confessions of a troubled girl

Yo. I try SO hard to pace myself, but I can't help but write and post SOMETHING every day...

WARNING: EXTREMELY SAD, MUSHY, AND JUST PLAIN CHEESINESS.

DON'T OWN NARUTO.

* * *

Early the next morning, Itachi got up to visit Kimiko in the hospital.

"But why can't I come with you, Aniki?" Sasuke asked, his tone sounding quite offended and hurt.

"Because, you're still recovering and mom would kill me if I let you come." Itachi explained calmly, ruffling Sasuke's raven black hair.

"Well, is there anything I can do while I'm here?" Sasuke asked, looking up at his brother.

"Yeah, there is, actually. Call everyone and tell them that Kimiko's in the hospital. They should at least know what's going on with her." Itachi said, stuffing his cell phone in his pocket before walking towards the direction of the door.

He left and rushed to the hospital, and was there in less than 20 minutes, his personal best involving someone other than Sasuke.

He was met by Tsunade and Shizune, who were seemingly waiting for him or someone else close enough to Kimiko to be considered family.

"Is she up?" Itachi asked, shoving his hands into his pockets, a trait he learned from Sasuke.

"Yeah. I thought she would sleep better than that, but she was apparently having nightmares, so we let her stay up." Shizune explained, taking a sip tea.

"No matter how hard we tried, she just wouldn't go back to sleep." Tsunade added, adjusting the cup in her hands.

Shizune gave him the coordinates to Kimiko's room, and he arrived within 6 minutes due to his rather good memory.

He slowly opened the door and walked inside of the room, letting the door shut slowly behind him.

At first, he thought Kimiko was asleep, as she was lying down and ad her head turned towards the window on the opposite side of the room.

"Good morning, Itachi." She greeted softly, not moving from her position.

Itachi jumped a little in surprise, but quickly recovered.

"Good morning, Kimiko." He replied, sitting down in the seat next to the bed.

"How are you?" Itachi asked, trying to avoid the dreaded awkward silence.

"I've… been better…" Kimiko said, sighing. She still hadn't turned towards him, which made him feel uneasy.

The dreaded awkward silence fell across the two, and it remained for quite a while.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Itachi asked suddenly, his burning curiosity getting the best of him.

"Why would I burden you guys with such a trivial fact?" Kimiko answered blankly, immediately knowing what he was talking about.

"How could it be a _trivial_ fact? YOU COULDA FREAKING DIED, KIMIKO." Itachi said, his tone in a deadly serious tone.

"Look, I… I couldn't bring myself to tell you guys the truth because… I thought it would… ruin everything we have together…" Kimiko said slowly, still refusing to turn and look Itachi in the eye.

"NOTHING could ever ruin everything we have together. Not even something like this. We care about you a lot, Kimiko." Itachi said, his eyes staring at the back of her head.

"No you guys don't. No one ever has, and no one ever will." She said, her voice cracking.

Itachi's eyes widened in shock. Her father's words got through to her.

"You can drop the act. I know no one could care about someone like me." Kimiko said, apparently able to suppress the tears that Itachi knew were imminent.

"It's NOT AN ACT, KIMIKO." Itachi said, looking down, hoping that the stinging sensation in the back of his eyes would go away.

"I find that so hard to believe." Kimiko said, her gaze still directed towards the window.

"Well believe it. I swear, I would've slaughtered your parents myself if Sasuke hadn't restrained me. You really mean a lot to us and, it hurts a lot to see you like this." Itachi said, blinking to push back the tears.

Kimiko finally turned to him, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"I… can't stop thinking about… what my dad said to me, though… It hurts to think that you guys don't care about me, but it's a just something I can't get out of my head… I'm just… really mad at myself for… letting you guys get involved in this… Because… I really love you guys… and… everything that happened to me just wouldn't change that… I can't stop loving you guys and it kills me to see… such amazing people… try to help someone as doomed and damned as me… " Kimiko said, all those emotions finally escaping. She buried her pale face in her hands and began crying. Itachi did the one thing he knew would work. He hugged her, just when she got to the point where she was screaming. She cried into his shirt and he could clearly feel her shaking with the pent up emotion. He let her cry for a little while, as he knew that she needed to let go of all those ugly feelings.

"Well stop thinking about the sick lies your father told you and start listening to US when we say that we love you!" Itachi said, placing a hand on the back of her head.

She gasped in surprise, and looked up at him.

"…R-really?" She asked, her green-brown eyes shimmering with more tears.

"Hell yeah." Itachi said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"And by all accounts, you are NOT a doomed or damned child. You're an amazing girl and it's really a shame that you can put yourself down this way." Itachi said, hugging her a little tighter.

She smiled and wiped her eyes.

"Thanks…" She said, swiping another tear trying to escape her glassy eyes.

* * *

Hm... Was it any good? I dumped all my emoness out and I found inspiration for THIS in there... I'm normally not the kind of person to post my mushy bonding crap for public eyes, but this made it's way in here, so I hope you liked it.

...REVIEWS... I NEED... REVIEWS... (P.S. I smiled SO much when reading the last few.)


	10. Chapter 10: The pooping bed and warnings

Chello ppl! :D I was being emo for a little while, and it caused a chain of events which led to me not updating. Sorry about that.

I don't own naruto.

* * *

After several more minutes, Itachi and Kimiko were taken by surprise when the door flew open and who should come rushing in but the rest of the Akatsuki.

"KIMIKO!" Konan yelled in relief, throwing her arms around Kimiko in a hug.

"Hi Konan." Kimiko said, hugging back with her good arm, as the other had a brace on it to keep her it from further injury.

"Did we miss all of these somehow?" Konan asked, lifting Kimiko's left wrist, which was supposedly sprained and possibly broken.

"No. Most of it was INFLICTED after she went home…" Itachi said, crossing his arms.

A few gasps went through the room.

"WHO?" Konan asked, surveying Kimiko, but expecting an answer from Itachi.

Itachi hesitated, trying to find the right way to word it.

"NAMES, MAN! I NEED FREAKING NAMES! NO ONE DOES THIS KIND OF DAMAGE TO MY LITTLE GIRL AND LIVES!" Hidan said, grabbing Itachi and shaking him a few times before turning his attention towards Kimiko, who was currently being hammered with questions and rants coming from Konan.

"Her parents did it." Itachi said, deciding to lay it straight for everyone.

A shocked silence went through the room.

Hidan turned around and looked at Kimiko dead in the eye as if to ask if this was correct.

Her eyes diverted off to the side, but she gave the slightest of nods.

"IMMA FUCKING KILL THEM…" Hidan muttered, placing a hand on Kimiko's head protectively.

Just then, Itachi's cell phone rang, and he quickly answered it.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Aniki? Mom wanted me to tell you that dad said it was alright for her to stay with us." Sasuke said, joy lining his tone.

"What? Really?" Itachi asked, trying to receive a confirmation from Sasuke.

"Yeah." Sasuke said, adding a giggle towards the end.

"Great." Itachi whispered.

"How's she doin'?" Sasuke asked promptly upon delivering the good news.

"Why don't you talk to her yourself?" Itachi asked before handing the phone to Kimiko.

"Hi Sasuke!" Kimiko said upon receiving the phone.

"Hi Kimiko! How are you?" Sasuke asked.

"I've been better, come to think of it." Kimiko replied, muffling a cough with her hand.

"What hurts the most right now?" Sasuke asked, his question making Kimiko laugh.

"The coughing. You should know that, though." Kimiko replied.

"Ouch… anything broken?" he asked.

"Yeah. 3 ribs, there's a possible fractured bone in my foot, and my wrist is either very badly sprained or broken." She explained, making everyone eye said areas.

"Ouch… Well, you can put Itachi back on now." He said, trying to quickly change the subject.

"Alright, bye." She said, handing the phone to Itachi.

"Yeah, it's bad." Sasuke said, nodding although no one could see him.

"Isn't it?" Itachi asked, his eyes finding their way to the ceiling.

"Well, I better go now. Bye, aniki." Sasuke said, preparing to hang up.

"Alright. Bye." Itachi said before hitting the 'end call' button.

"Since when do you have a possible fracture in your foot?" Itachi asked once the cell phone was in his pocket.

"I got up to use the bathroom and I faceplanted on the floor upon standing. There is a very tenor spot on my foot. I put the pieces together." She explained, pulling the covers off of her feet to reveal her right foot, which was in a cast.

"Ow…" Kisame muttered.

"Oh honey, you don't know the half of it…" she muttered, covering up again.

After an hour or two of idle conversation, Deidara tripped on an unknown object and faceplanted on the floor next to Kimiko's bed.

"Owie…" Kimiko commented, peering down at him.

As he was attempting to stand, he stopped and stared at something confusingly under the bed. He then reached under it and pulled out a wad of 1 dollar bills that was apparently strapped to the underside of said bed.

"Holy cow crap… THE BED POOPS MONEY!" Kimiko muttered, eyeing the wad of cash in Deidara's hand.

Deidara gave her a quizzical look, but turned back to the wad of cash in his hand.

He counted it and concluded it to be roughly 15 dollars.

"I guess the bed is constipated…" Kakuzu commented sarcastically, rolling his oddly colored eyes.

"Please don't say the word 'constipated'…" Kisame pleaded, shuttering.

"Why?" Kakuzu asked.

"Y is an ugly letter, Kakuzu." Kisame said, trying hard not to shutter once again.

"No, P is an ugly letter." Kimiko commented, brushing the bangs out of her eyes.

"Why is it an ugly letter?" Konan asked.

"Because. There has to be a reason why urine is named after it. Why do you think I use the wee instead?" she explained, shuttering like Kisame had done only moments ago.

This made everyone sirpress a laugh.

After a few minutes of trying to figure out why there was money strapped to the underside of a bed and disagreements on whether it was the bed's fault or another logical reason.

After much specualation, they decided to leave it at 'the bed pooped.'

Just then, Tsunade came in and saw Deidara bend down to pick up a dollar from the wad that he had dropped.

She gave him a questioning look, to which he replied,

"The bed pooped it out, hm."

She gave him a look of utter confusion, and looked to everyone else for a more logical explanation.

Everyone nodded to confirm his claim.

"Okay, did you guys take a hit off of the antibiotics or something?" She asked cautiously.

"Skip it." Itachi said, waving off the earlier comment.

"Um well… Shizune and I got the results back from Kimiko's tests and… She should be okay, but it's too late to prevent the infections. You're gonna have to be down for A WHILE Kimiko." Tsunade said, putting a hand on Kimiko's head.

"Well, can't you at least give her some medicine for when the infections hit?" Konan asked, tilting her head to the side like Kimiko often does.

"It's unclear where the more serious infections are going to come from, but we can stop some of the more life threatening symptoms by giving her some antibiotics to counter act some of them." Tsunade explained calmly.

"'life threatening symptoms'? Just WHAT are we dealing with here?" Konan asked, placing a hand on Kimiko's shoulder.

"Well, some rather ugly viruses found their way into little Kimiko here, and since she's suffering from anemia and malnutrition, her immune system couldn't fight off the more serious stuff and she's in for a whole different world of sick." Tsunade finished by looking down at Kimiko and seeing how much fear was written across the 11 year old girl's face.

"Uh, I probably shouldn't have said that in front of her…" Tsunade said, sweatdropping.

* * *

Mmmhmmm... I'm honestly feeling discouraged about everyone who's reading this because according to the traffic, only a handful of people are reading this. But I can see that they enjoy it. To those of you who can put up with my stories, YOU GUYS ROCK!

Reviews. Please.


	11. Chapter 11: The sickness begins

As you can clearly tell, I just wrote the second half of the story, and I'm off my game, so... yeah...

I OWN OR CLAIM NOTHING.

* * *

"Are you stressing this stuff out or are you serious…?" Kimiko asked softly, her glorious green-brown eyes filled with fear.

"A little of both, sweetie." Tsunade said, ruffling Kimiko's short black hair.

Kimiko squeaked and shrank back, letting Tsunade continue the conversation.

"What kind of 'life threatening symptoms' are we trying to prevent here?" Itachi asked, half curiously and half suspiciously.

"Well, kidney failure, liver failure, her heart could be at risk if we're not careful, a possible coma, and if we can avoid liver and kidney failure, there could be possible infections there too, pneumonia, there's coughing up too much blood to worry about… The list could go on." Tsunade said, pausing occasionally to think of all the risks.

Kimiko, being a medic Nin trainee, realized the threats involved and shuttered once again.

"But you CAN prevent this stuff, right?" Sasori asked, beginning to chew on one of his nails.

"… Well, it's not sure fire that we can prevent ALL of that, but the more life threatening stuff should be treatable if she gets here fast enough." Tsunade reassured.

"So… I'm gonna make it…?" Kimiko asked hesitantly.

"You have about a 75% chance." Tsunade estimated reassuringly. The only one who was actually reassured only slightly was Kimiko.

"I've had a lower percentage of that in the past." Kimiko said, shrugging.

"Well, you can go home now. The only thing we can do now is wait." Tsunade said, brushing some of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"Alrighty then…" Kimiko sighed, running her good hand through her messy black hair.

"Here's a list of instructions for the medication Kimiko's supposed to take. Give it to your mom and she should be familiar with it once she has a good look at it." Tsunade said, handing a paper to Itachi. He nodded and placed the paper delicately in his pocket.

Kimiko gave them a questioning look.

"Did I forget to mention it? You're gonna stay with us." Itachi said, turning around and smiling.

"Really?" Kimiko asked in a rather high voice.

Itachi nodded.

"Thank you!" She said softly, suddenly giving him a hug from behind.

He was taken by surprise, but grabbed her hand and smiled again.

"Um… Lady Tsunade? Aren't you gonna give Kimiko crutches?" Konan asked, grabbing Kimiko's shoulders.

"If you insist, but I don't want her on her feet more than she needs to." Tsunade said, her stare directed at Itachi.

He nodded.

She went and got crutches for Kimiko, they finished the necessary paperwork, and they went home.

The very minute they walked in the front door, Mikoto took Kimiko to a guest bedroom which would now be her room. Itachi gave her the paper with her medicine regimen, and she quickly read through it.

Mikoto got Kimiko into some clean and comfortable clothes and fed her a light meal before putting her to sleep, which was frightfully easy in Itachi and Sasuke's opinion.

"Hey mom? How did you get her to go to sleep so easily? She wouldn't even go to sleep for Lady Tsunade." Itachi stated, looking at his mother curiously.

"Oh, she's really a very obedient girl. I only asked her to once and she was lying down, almost asleep." Mikoto explained gingerly, brushing some of her dark hair behind her ear as it had fallen in her face.

Not another peep was heard from Kimiko for the rest of the day.

The next morning, Mikoto went and woke up Kimiko so she could have a little breakfast.

Kimiko was quite pale and she claimed to not be feeling well. Mikoto checked her temperature, and found that it was at 103 degrees.

"Looks like it hit earlier than expected…" Itachi muttered to himself once his mother had told them.

"I tried giving her something to eat, but she won't take anything." Mikoto explained.

Itachi nodded.

Kimiko slept the entire day, only getting up once to use the bathroom.

Over the next few days, the only thing she was doing was sleeping. Mikoto found it increasingly difficult to give her medicine, as it took Kimiko more strength just to sit up and swallow. Her throat was extremely sore and it hurt to even consider swallowing something.

"How's she doing?" Itachi asked at lunch one day, about a week after the illness took over Kimiko.

"Not good. She's losing weight like it's nobody's business and I can barely even keep her awake long enough to get her to take the medicine." Mikoto explained, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Well, she should be getting better once she gets some food." Itachi said, scratching the back of his head absent-mindedly.

Mikoto shook her head.

"Everything I give her comes back up. I was going to ask you a favor. Could you run and tell Lady Tsunade to get us some medication to help keep the stuff down?" Mikoto asked, turning to her eldest son and looking him in the eye.

"I'll do it right now." Itachi said, nodding and walking out the front door.

Lady Tsunade actually had a bottle of this special medicine and gave it to Itachi without question.

He thanked her and went back to his house, hoping nothing else could go wrong.

The universe must've really hated them at the moment.

Once he walked in the door, Mikoto explained that Sasuke was now infected with some sort of illness, although it wasn't as bad as what Kimiko had, she was still actively being frantic.

As Sasuke had always said, 'being the youngest has its perks.' And this was one of the many examples.

Mikoto took the medicine bottle from Itachi and started making chicken soup for the ill children.

Mikoto went and gave some of the medicine to Kimiko before giving her some crackers. She then went and gave Sasuke some Tylenol for his sore throat, which impressed Itachi to some extent. She was taking care of two sick children and yet she made it look easy. But when you've raised two boys, he expected no less from her.

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See what I mean? Alrighty, review time?


	12. Chapter 12: Ponderings of sick children

Chello! ^_^ I feel emotionally withdrawn today, so THIS came to mind.

I don't own NARUTO. I just don't. If I did, this story would be reality.

* * *

Kimiko felt quite horrible. She had a burning fever, a light headache, she was drenched in a cold sweat, she was shivering, she was numb, her throat was throbbing with pain, it hurt to breathe, she didn't even have enough energy to sit up, her wounds weren't getting any better, nor was her sprained (possibly broken) wrist, broken ribs, or fractured foot. As she would put it, she felt like crap. She couldn't even lie on her side or move around too much since her wounds threatened to reopen, her ribs would burn and ache, and she would bump her rather dark and painful bruises.

Mikoto walked into the darkened room Kimiko was laying in, a steaming bowl of chicken soup in her hands.

"Kimiko, dear? I have some soup for you." Mikoto said softly as to not worsen Kimiko's searing headache.

Kimiko was too weak and in too much pain to compose a reply, so she merely gave Mikoto a glance of acknowledgement before attempting to close her eyes and fall asleep once again.

Mikoto managed to get her up into a sitting position nonetheless, and Kimiko managed to feed herself. After consuming little more than a quarter of the bowl, Kimiko stopped and insisted that she couldn't eat any more, so Mikoto left and left Kimiko to attempt sleep once again.

Mikoto then went and fed Sasuke, and he ate quite a larger quantity and easier than Kimiko, most likely because he wasn't as sick as her.

Itachi had snuck a bowl while his mother was busy, and he had to admit it was quite delicious. There was still some left over after he was done, so his mother had a bowl as well.

It was awkwardly silent for a matter of minutes, before the phone rang, breaking the silence.

Itachi quickly grabbed the cordless phone in front of him and answered.

"Hello?"

"Itachi? How's Kimiko doing?" Konan asked, it being eerily quiet in the background.

"Konan? Where have you been? I tried calling you and everyone else and no one would pick up." Itachi asked, ignoring Konan's question.

"Sorry. Phone mishap. But how's Kimiko doing?" Konan asked, this time sounding more urgent.

"She's… been better…" Itachi said slowly, trying to find the right words.

"Specifics, Uchiha. Specifics!" Konan snapped, sounding like Hidan.

"She's _really _sick. Tsunade was NOT blowing it out of proportion in the least. Plus, Sasuke got something from his cuts too." Itachi explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, Sasuke too, huh? That's not good… It feels kind of weird knowing that those two are down like this because of that mission and we don't even have the slightest scratch." Konan murmured thoughtfully.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Itachi stated in agreement.

"Well, I gotta go now. Tell Sasuke and Kimiko to get better soon for me, okay? Bye." She said before hanging up.

Itachi hung up also and he placed the cordless phone down in front of him.

'Funny… Usually I'M the first to hang up...' he thought, his inner self pouting.

"Who was that, sweetie?" Mikoto asked, almost halfway done with the dishes by that point.

"Konan." Itachi responded, his inner self still pouting a little.

"Oh. It's good that someone decided to call you back." Mikoto said, glancing back at her eldest son before returning to what she was doing.

"Yeah, the main reason being Kimiko. I shouldn't be surprised though. Tsunade gave us more reasons to be worried, like most health care professionals will often do." Itachi deadpanned, standing up and stretching, as he hadn't moved around much in the last half hour.

"Oh I can't blame her for being curious. They aren't living with her and she's deathly ill." Mikoto said, shaking her head and drying her hands.

Itachi nodded in agreement before going to his room. The last thing he wanted to do was nothing, but being a teenage boy, he couldn't resist the opportunity, and he took a midday catnap, curled up comfortably on his bed.

Sasuke wasn't feeling too good. He had a fever, sore throat, achy body, he shivered like a leaf in the wind when the covers were removed from him, he was drowsy, and he was just feeling sick. The chicken soup helped, but he still felt crappy. Of course, he didn't pity himself, since he KNEW Kimiko had it way worse and she certainly wasn't. How did he know? She was that kind of person. She had been through absolute hell for the first 11 years of her life and you never saw her crying around about it. Hell, she even tried to HIDE it! Why he was thinking this over, he had no idea, but it kept him from pitying himself.

Kimiko lied there in bed, her comatose mind wandering freely through her imagination, every once in a while finding a topic worth thinking over. Eventually, the subject of why she was in a warm bed in a safe, comfortable home and not in a hellhole of abuse and neglect found its way into her ponderings.

'How did someone like ME get friends as amazing as these? I mean, everyone lugged me around on their backs on the mission, Sasuke saved me from the wolf, Itachi and Sasuke saved me from the hellhole of my damned childhood, they took me to the hospital, Itachi helped me see that I actually matter to others, everyone came to see me in the hospital, Hidan threatened to kill my parents for hurting me, the Uchihas took me in, I'm being cared for… These people are just too amazing…' Kimiko thought, looking up at the ceiling and smiling faintly before closing her glassy eyes and drifting off.

* * *

Was it alright? I hope it was. Review, and make me smile. Two gains, one action.


	13. Chapter 13:Kiki's definition of lonely

Hiya! I'm sad because I just typed right through BLEACH... How sad is that? Well, please enjoy this chappie because I missed BLEACH for it...

Don't own NARUTO, TEMPORARY HOME, or any of that.

* * *

Itachi slowly opened his eyes, sat up, and stretched. He glanced at his digital clock next to his bed to see was time it was.

6:34.

He had fallen asleep at 4:27, so this had been a very good nap. He went into the kitchen, where he ate dinner with his mother and father. It had been quite some time since it had been just him and his parents, so he enjoyed it as much as he could. Sasuke not being there made it inexplicably surreal, but he ignored the feeling since he knew Sasuke would probably be back on his feet in the next few weeks or so.

After dinner, Mikoto went and checked on Sasuke and Kimiko, only to see that the two were sleeping soundly. She woke Kimiko and gave her some medicine before letting her fall back asleep. Sasuke didn't seem to need any sort of medicine at that moment, so she went and cleaned up after dinner.

Over the next 2 weeks, Kimiko got worse before she got better, as most sicknesses would have it, and they came to the ultimate conclusion that she had pneumonia, or something rather close to it.

Sasuke had a bad case of the flu, and combined with the damage he sustained during the mission, it would take a considerably longer time for him to get better.

Itachi passed the time by talking with the other Akatsuki members, the main subject of these talks being Kimiko, who else? He just wished Kimiko was there to here the death threats made to her parents, as he knew that she would've thoroughly enjoyed it.

Kimiko lied there in bed, her imagination running rampant across the many beautiful and unimaginable landscapes of her mind, every once in a while stopping to rest her brain, as even the most trained of brains in this field need to be rested at some point in time. Mikoto occasionally come in to check on her, but the visitations only lasted about 6 minutes.

A feeling and thought that she until that moment had thought to be non existent suddenly hit her.

She, for the first time in quite a while, acknowledged what she was feeling, and this feeling was the sense of being alone. Not the fun alone, but the scary alone.

She had always felt that way, since the very minute she was capable of such an emotional feat, and this was the first time in a while that she actually acknowledged its existence.

'Loneliness… Now that I think about it, it's such a great emotion. It means that you actually care enough to want another's company, to know that someone is there with you so you won't plunge into the very depths of solitude to the point of insanity and beyond… And yet, it's such a terrifying emotion when you know no one is around to understand that you need more than JUST them standing next to you, or physically in any way. That you need to know that they will be there to talk to you and understand you, to be there to keep you company on an emotional level. Is that what it means to be lonely? If it is, I've suffered it A LOT… Probably too much… GAWD… I'm like that six-year old from that song 'Temporary Home' by Carrie Underwood… Or Fisher, or whatever she is now… Aww…. That whole thing was a philosipher's moment until this point…' Kimiko thought, smiling towards the end at her own mistake.

Mikoto walked in several minutes after Kimiko's thought train, and found that Kimiko had fallen asleep again at that point. She gently lifted Kimiko into a sitting position as to make it easier for Kimiko to take the medicine. Kimiko hated the taste of the medicine to no end, but if it meant that she could be up on her feet sooner, she was willing to sacrifice.

"How do you feel today, Kimiko?" Mikoto asked after she had given Kimiko the foul medicine.

"Better than… last week…" Kimiko murmured, her voice hoarse and barely half an octane above a whisper.

"Oh honey, ANYONE would've felt better than you last week." Mikoto said, chuckling. After making sure Kimiko was comfortable, she left to tend to Sasuke.

Sasuke was feeling much better than he had two weeks earlier, as he could now stand and walk, although he was still quite wobbly and dizzy, he was still able to sustain himself for short distances. The only time he would get up was to go to the bathroom though, but it was still a landmark feat compared to Kimiko, who wasn't even able to sit up unassisted, but then again, she did have something short of pneumonia, so it wasn't exactly fair.

"A rather hollow victory…" Sasuke muttered to himself, lying back down in bed.

A hollow victory indeed.

* * *

Well... yeah... I'm watching COMIC-CON LIVE, so I cut this like, two paragraphs short. Sorry about that. M'kay... I'd appreciate some reviews...


	14. Chapter 14:Big brothers and a song break

Hello. Wrote this with almost no difficulties, which is a first. I'd like to give a shoutout to any of my TinierMe buddies (yeah, I'm a member. Deadsilence1317, remember?) who actually care enough to read this. Love you guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own naruto, carrie underwood (fisher, whatever. Can't get used to the new last name), etc.

* * *

The next two weeks following, Sasuke and Kimiko made landmark progress. Sasuke was almost back to normal, and Kimiko was able to sit up by herself again, and was now trying to stand on her own. Everyone was able to relax some now, knowing that it was almost certain that Sasuke and Kimiko would pull through.

Itachi sat there in his bedroom, sharpening his kunai and shuriken since he had nothing better to do. Sasuke and Kimiko weren't allowed out of bed unless it was to go to the bathroom, and he didn't want to bother them, as they were both probably asleep.

He sat there, his sharpening stone in his hand, a kunai in the other. He wasn't actually thinking much, just focusing on the task at hand. He'd already thought over everything at least twice, from the most serious stuff to the silliest little ideas and memos in his head. Was he really that organized?

Sasuke lied in his bed, his mind running a pretty low line of thought. He was half asleep when Itachi found his way into Sasuke's head.

'I wonder how Kimiko felt when she found out her brother died… (1) I know I would never be the same again. Itachi's the best older brother in the world and I don't wanna think about life without him. Kimiko was always so happy when her brother was around… She was still giggly, even at his memorial service. But after that, her eyes always looked… lost… sad even… I think I know why she always tries to stay strong… She does it for us… If we weren't here, she probably wouldn't be alive… I wonder why she cares about us so much… I… really want her to start showing what she's really feeling on the inside, but you never really know what she's feeling, since she's so good at hiding it… I think I'll talk to her a bit more once this whole thing is over…' he thought, his dark gray eyes blankly staring at the ceiling. This thought train let him to one conclusion.

He was damn lucky to have such a good brother.

Just as he was finishing the last few knives, Mikoto came into his room, carrying the cordless phone.

"It's Pein." His mother said, handing him the phone before leaving to check on the two currently ill preteens.

"Hello?" Itachi answered, resting the phone between his shoulder and his ear so he could go back to what he was doing.

"Itachi? What are you up to?" Pein asked, his tone sounding rather mutual.

"I'm just sharpening some kunai and shuriken…" Itachi said, his tone lined with boredom.

"How are Sasuke and Kimiko doing?" Pein questioned, making Itachi roll his dark gray eyes.

"Like I haven't heard that in the last three days… But they're getting better. Sasuke's almost back to normal and Kimiko can sit up by herself now. In fact, she should be able to stand up on her own any day now." Itachi explained, packing up the now extremely sharp knives.

"That's great. Have you heard from anyone besides me? I'm getting the cold shoulder from everyone else…" Pein murmured, a depressed chibi rain cloud most likely forming over his head.

"Yeah actually. Konan, Kisame, and Hidan have been talking to me. What did you do to make them ignore you?" Itachi asked, only partially curious.

"I don't know! Why, have you heard anything?" Pein questioned suspiciously.

"No. I don't know how to help you either, so I guess you're on your own." Itachi said, waiting for Pein's reaction.

"C'mon, man! I don't wanna be alone!" Pein begged, using his whiny voice.

"Look, I won't give you the cold shoulder or anything, but I seriously don't know what to tell you. Just hope that everyone will forgive you eventually." Itachi said, rolling his eyes and smirking evilly just because he knew that Pein couldn't see him do it.

"Alright… Well, I'd better let you go now. Bye." Pein said drearily, hanging up.

Itachi pressed the end call button, feeling the chibi depression cloud pass on to him.

'Everyone's getting faster at hanging up than me…' he thought, the chibi rain cloud soaking him.

"Aniki?" Sasuke asked, suddenly standing just outside Itachi's bedroom.

Itachi suppressed the chibi cloud and quickly looked up at his ill brother.

"Sasuke? What are you doing out of bed? Mom's gonna kill you." Itachi said, his eyes locking with his brother's.

"I know. I was just going to the bathroom and I wanted to tell you something." Sasuke said, stepping inside Itachi's room.

"What is it?" Itachi asked, his eyes still locked with his brother's.

Itachi suddenly felt Sasuke hug him.

"I love you." Sasuke muttered simply.

"Love you too, otouto." Itachi said, wrapping his arms around Sasuke. After several minutes, Sasuke and Itachi let go of each other, and Sasuke left and went to the bathroom.

Itachi smiled to himself.

Kimiko heard Mikoto come into the dark bedroom. Kimiko slowly sat up and yawned.

"Oh, good to see you're getting better at it." Mikoto said, smiling warmly, referring to the fact that Kimiko was getting to be a pro at sitting up in such a way to conserve her energy.

Mikoto gave Kimiko a dose of medicine, made sure to change her bandages, and left. Kimiko decided to listen to some music, which she hadn't done in over 3 weeks.

She slowly reached down on the side of the bed and found the front pocket of her bag, which held some of her basic essentials, which was about all she had.

She pulled it out and turned it on. She put it on shuffle and set it down, waiting for a song to come on.

_A little boy, six years old_

_A little too used to being alone_

_Another new mom and dad_

_Another school, another house that will never be home_

_When people ask him how he likes this place_

_He looks up and says with a smile upon his face_

_This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong_

_Windows and rooms that I'm passing through_

_This is just a stop on the way to where I'm going_

_I'm not afraid because I know_

_This is my temporary home_

_Young mom, on her own_

_She needs a little help, got no where to go_

_She's looking for a job, looking for a way out_

'_cause a halfway house will never be home_

_At night she whispers to her baby girl_

"_someday we'll find our place here in this world"_

_This is our temporary home, it's not where we belong_

_Windows and rooms that we're passing through_

_This is a just a stop on the way to where we're going_

_I'm not afraid because I know_

_This is our temporary home_

_Old man, hospital bed_

_The room is filled with people he loves_

_And he whispers_

"_Don't cry for me, I'll see you all some day."_

_He looks up and says,_

"_I can see god's face."_

_This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong_

_Windows and rooms that I'm passing through_

_This was just a stop on the way to where I'm going_

_I'm not afraid because I know_

_This was my temporary home_

_This is our temporary home_

Kimiko smirked and shook her head.

'Damn universe knows everything…' She thought.

* * *

Any good? Reviews are welcome. You should know how desperate I am for approval by this point.


	15. Chapter 15: A visitation and the memory

Yeah, this one took me FOREVER to finish for some reason... Well, it's done.

WARNING: EXTREMELY SAD AND MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE.

I don't own NARUTO. If I did, you wouldn't recognize it. O.o

* * *

After another week, Sasuke was all better and, at first glance, Kimiko now looked as if she had the tail end of the flu. She was still quite sick, but not as deadly as the few previous weeks.

Kimiko sat there in bed, leaning against her headboard, digging through her bag, seemingly searching for a few objects.

She found the objects, and put the bag on the floor.

What was she after, you ask?

Her notebooks of course.

There were 3 all together. A journal, a notebook, and a very thick sketchpad. In the middle of browsing through her journal, she was suddenly hugged by Konan.

"Hi Konan." Kimiko said in surprise, hugging back.

The rest of the Akatsuki walked in, Pein rubbing his stomach as if he just got kicked there.

"Sorry… Held her down as long as I could…" Pein said, clutching his stomach.

"She kneed him." Kisame explained, shaking his head.

"What're you guys doing here?" Kimiko asked, brushing some of her black hair out of her eyes and smiling, pleased that they had come.

"We came to see you! Here, I got you some glitter crayons, hm." Deidara said, pulling a box of the promised glitter crayons out of his cloak.

"Oh, thank you Deidara!" Kimiko said, gingerly taking the crayons that she had wanted so badly, but couldn't afford. She received an origami cat from Konan, some new earrings from Pein, a brand new Jashinist necklace from Hidan, a bag of actual jewels from Kakuzu, some candy from Tobi, some pear blossoms from Zetsu, a small puppet from Sasori, and a stuffed shark from Kisame.

The moment Itachi and Sasuke walked in, Konan tackled Sasuke and gave him a hug, as she was quite glad to see him.

"I coulda warned you about that, is the sad thing." Kimiko said once she caught Sasuke's stare.

"What're you doing with your books?" Sasori asked, gesturing to the 3 books sprawled messily out in front of Kimiko.

"Oh, I was gonna flip through 'em because I'm bored and I can't draw since my damn wrist won't heal…" Kimiko muttered, glancing down at the splint on her left wrist. Yes, she is a leftie. She picked up her sketchbook, prompting Deidara and Sasori to sit on either side of her.

She opened it and the first impression you would get from them is that a child's hand could've never drawn them. Deidara and Sasori seemed like the only ones who could only begin to understand what most of the more deep drawings symbolized. The only ones who can ever begin to understand another's work are other artists.

Itachi asked her what her latest drawing was, so she flipped to the last drawn-on page. It was the anemone flower that Itachi had seen her draw that day.

"What exactly does that symbolize? I'm just curious. I think it's one of the best pictures I've ever seen." Itachi commented, pointing at the picture.

"Well, if you like it so much, why don't you just have it? I'd rather forget about what I feeling when I drew it, anyway." She said gently tearing it out of the book and handing the drawing to him. She ignored his initial question, but he didn't want to push.

Aww… He gets a picture, un? I want one too!" Deidara whined, making Sasori smack him in the back of his head.

"Sure, I have some I'd just like to get rid of." Kimiko said, flipping through the book until she found what she was looking for.

"Drew this thinkin' of you, DeiDei." She said, gently taking out a beautifully composed picture of an explosion happening on a mountain side.

"AWESOME… UN…" He muttered, taking the picture and admiring it.

"Can I have one?" Sasori asked, jealousy glancing at Deidara.

"Yeah. I have at least one for everyone, come to think of it." She said, flipping through her book. She pulled out a picture of a scorpion perched on one of his puppets. The one she had for Konan was of a blue coltsfoot flower sitting on top of a stack of paper. The one she made for Pein was of it raining over a field, with a bolt of lightning making the kanji for 'kami'. The one for Hidan was of a field, dead bodies splattered across the ground. The one she had for Kakuzu was of a tree, money as the leaves and coins as the dead leaves. The one she had drawn for Kisame was of a shark coming up behind a group of fish, ready for a meal. Tobi's was of a waterfall with a rainbow forming from it. Zetsu's was of a giant flytrap with a corpse hanging out of its mouth. She even had one for Sasuke. It was of a lone raven sitting on a fence post, a strip of meat hanging from its beak.

After a little while, the Akatsuki left, leaving Itachi, Sasuke, and Kimiko to their business. They merely sat there and talked idly until Mikoto returned with the groceries. She requested her sons' assistance in putting the items away, leaving Kimiko alone to browse her writings and drawings.

While Kimiko was flipping through her notebook, a note fell out, which surprised her since she was sure that she had flipped through it already.

She gently unfolded the note.

'Don't forget to remember us.' along with 4 paw prints, all different sizes. A memory that she had been told to forget, suddenly hit her.

She felt a burning sensation in the back of her eyes.

Flashback…

Kimiko lied there on the muddy ground, her unusually colored eyes gleaming with unshed tears. She stared at the 4 animals in front of her. Rainy, Sunny, Ghost, and Shadow, all sitting in equally muddy heaps in front of her bruised body.

"Kimiko. Don't go back." Rainy pleaded, sliding forward so he was sitting closer to said girl.

"I have to… Or they'll kill us all." Kimiko whispered sadly, picking herself up off the blood splattered ground.

"They'll probably end up killing me before we can see each other again. So do me one thing." Kimiko whispered, hanging her head and letting the tears spill out of her tired eyes.

Her pets looked up at her, they're eyes locked on her shaking form.

"Don't ever, ever forget me." She whispered quietly, her voice cracking.

"KIMIKO! GET YOUR ASS HOME RIGHT NOW BEFORE WE FINISH WHAT WE STARTED!" Her father yelled, not too far away from Kimiko's location. Her parents got tired of her acting so affectionate towards her animals, so they smacked the animals and Kimiko around for a few hours before telling her to leave the animals out in the forest or they would be killed.

"I love you guys. Goodbye." Kimiko whispered, hastily hugging her once beloved pets one last time before standing and running in the direction of her house.

She heard whimpers of sadness from behind her as she sprinted away from her shinobi pets.

She sobbed and wiped away the tears running down her pale face.

She arrived at her home and prepared herself for a beating worse than the one she had just recently received.

End flashback.

"I won't ever forget you all… not ever…" Kimiko whispered, clenching the note and closing her eyes.

* * *

Yup... Sad... So anyway, I found 2 mistakes that I could easily correct right now, so here you go.

(1) Kisame XY: You may remember this term from the thing in the inn. It's basically a pun to that show, 'Kyle XY', since Kyle slept in the bathtub all the time. No, I didn't watch the show. I just know.

(1) 'Kimiko's brother is dead' thing: Alright, in THIS story, Kimiko's brother had supposedly been killed on a mission, so it's not that same sad, depressing crap from The Kimiko Chronicles. But we're going in a similar direction, so it's not exactly gonna be any easier for her.

M'kay, that should clear some of the air between us. Reviews? I would like to hear from you guys. I CRAVE OPINION...


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